Patients were today evacuated from the emergency block of the state-run R G Kar Medical College and Hospital after a fire broke out.
There was no casualty, police sources said.
Panic ruled for about 30 minutes as the second floor of the emergency block was engulfed in smoke, with hospital employees hurriedly shifting patients to safety, police sources said.
The fire was doused in 30 minutes by two fire engines, they said.
Relatives of patients alleged that a locked collapsible gate had to be broken open for shifting the patients.
Minister of State for Health Chandrima Bhattacharya visited the hospital and said an inquiry would be made to ascertain the cause of the fire.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is in charge of health, said action would be taken in case of lack of maintenance at the hospital.
The blaze at the hospital took place months after one at the state's only referral, SSKM hospital.
Altogether 92 people, a majority of them patients, had suffocated to death after a fire at the AMRI Hospital at Dhakuria in 2011.
